A few years ago, I bought some Orca beans from the CSA in Wenatchee, WA. Then they just sat in my pantry…

Finally I decided to use them. When they cooked up, the water turned black and the beans turned brown! I found out that Orca beans are an heirloom variety from Mexico, rare in the U.S. (No wonder they remind me of pinto beans).

Purcell Mountain Farms’ website has a fascinating, long list of beans for purchase. There are some really interesting names on that list! Eye of the Goat Beans, Marrow Beans, Tongues of Fire Beans…these sound exactly like what a vegan witch would add to her cauldron of animal-free stew. Ah, the abundance! (Where do you get your protein?)

I didn’t make soup or stew. I decided to make up a triple batch of hummus using my Orca beans instead of garbanzo beans. Two cups dry beans yielded about 3 pints cooked.